The USSR was worried that the Iranian Revolution would spread to Afghanistan, which would then have a destabilizing effect on the 60 million Muslims inside the USSR. (I'm quoting Primakov on this.) The brief of the Soviet army was to keep a secular government in power in Afghanistan.
--- On Sun, 10/11/09, Bhaskar Sunkara <bhaskar.sunkara at gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Bhaskar Sunkara <bhaskar.sunkara at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] a reminder
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:14 PM
> Wasn't the US State Department Line
> that the Russians wanted a warm water
> port in the region? Not sure how invading an inland
> country would've
> furthered their cause (and they already had South Yemen).
>